Lettuce only has 4-8 calories per shredded cup depending on the type of lettuce, so basically 1-2 carbs from that amount.

So I would think you could eat all you want without having to worry about impeding fat loss. You would probably have to consume so much before it would ever effect your weight loss that you would get a stomach ache before.

There is a lot of water and fiber in lettuce(about 5 grams of fiber in a head of green leaf) so if you are eating the amounts that you are it may be a lot of volume mass filling your digestive tract which may be what you are seeing with the weight on the scales. But I wouldn't worry about that because it isn't really fat weight and should pass through you system pretty fast.(although you will put more back into your body everyday). It may be something you would have to stop few days or so before a show? I mean if it is filling up your digestive tract and making your stomach area look expanded or bloated? I am not an expert on that so just a thought and maybe something you will have to experiment with.

I know I eat a large volume of food, and most any plant based athlete would have to, to get the calories they need and my stomach area expands quite a bit after a meal. I always weigh 2-3 lbs heavier after eating.

But it is great you are eating so much lettuce, it is very good for you, with a lot of nutrients for the low amount of calories it contains.

I eat mustard sometimes, they have found some health benefits from mustard seeds. So I think it is one of the better condiments to eat if you are going to eat any. The main downside is the sodium in most brands. But I think it is ok if you keep it to 1-2 oz day or 300-500 mg sodium day from that source, as long as the rest of your diet is low sodium and not pushing you over 2000 mg/day total. There may also be some low sodium varieties out there? I don't eat it enough to ever really have the desire to look for any low sodium kind.

and i always have. for competition i cut to like 9% body fat. aside from my partner im the strongest girl pound for pound in my gym. all blood work is normal. last doct appt said my BP was in very good range, i forgot what they said i meant to write it down, and also super low pulse. i only bloat from sugar, not salt...sodium is essential for physical activity and ive read that BBS should take in more, not less, than the standard recommendation for the avg person with is about 2k. i dont retain that much water, i pee all the time.

ok.........well i hope i didn't sound condescending in my previous reply, it was just the 8000 mg amount is so high.

what is BBS?

The thing with sodium, it long term high amounts can cause high blood pressure. Even though your blood pressure is normal now, that happens a lot with people who consume high amounts of sodium. By that I mean, their blood pressure is normal for years and years, then at some point, maybe in their 50-60's, all the sudden their blood pressure runs up. The way I heard it explained is that at some point the sodium overloads the nervous system and like a switch is turned and it goes high. The problem is, once this happens, it may take 2-3 yrs to get it back down to a normal range even with a very restricted sodium diet at that time.

So I am saying this about sodium more for your long term health, then how it may be effecting at the current time.

Maybe BBS do need more, I am not sure what that stands for. But either way, 8k is a very very high amount.

I have heard Dr. Fuhrman discuss the increased risk of stroke and heart attacks from having high blood pressure. I assume that risk is the same at the time the blood pressure goes up no matter your age. Although, having it at a younger age would certainly seem logically to put one at a higher risk because they would end up having the problem for a longer period of time.

Dr. Fuhrman bases all his recommendations on research available, which he admits sometimes changes over time. Also, some things just haven't been studied enough and in such cases his makes his best judgement.(the effects of high blood pressure isn't one of those though) So while I don't know the specific studies to give you, I have faith that they have been done based on Dr. Fuhrman's statements.

Personally, if I eat a meal high in sodium I feel it for the next 24 hrs. and I notice my body will heat up more while sleeping. I just don't like how I feel in such situations. Alhough, it wasn't always like this, back when I consumed high amounts I didn't notice it or if I was having the symptoms I didn't realize what it was coming from or just didn't think anything about it.

It sounds this isn't a problem for you and your body handles it ok in that sense. But I still worry about the long term effects for you. Maybe you could just cut that amount in half over time?

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